There is new study that has experts in psychosomatic medicine talking. As much as it applies to the practice of medicine, it also can illuminate the reasons underlying the fact now being reported that many of Trump’s zealous supporters knew he was lying and exaggerating.
The study was published in October in the journal “Pain.” It offers tremendous insight to the psyche, and digging a little deeper explains why people voted enthusiastically for Trump even knowing that he would not and could not make good on his slogan promises.
As counter-intuitive as it is — “the therapeutic effects of a placebo are so powerful that an inert pill has a good chance of reducing symptoms – even if patients know they are taking a dummy pill.”
Trump it could be said was the dummy pill!
Consider the following with medical portions omitted, and my substitutions in bold:
Placebo Power
Do politician’s lies really have the power to persuade? It is more complex than that, said Kaptchuk (study author, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.)
The politician’s interaction with the voter plays a critical role, as the placebo effects show, he said.
Simply put, the politician is medicine. The doctor and nurse are medicine. The chiropractor is medicine. They’re more than just the bag of tricks that they have.
This is the original text:
Do sugar pills really have the power to heal? It is more complex than that, said Kaptchuk (study author, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.).
The medical professional’s interaction with a patient plays a critical role, as the placebo effects show, he said.
“Simply put, the doctor is medicine. The nurse is medicine. The chiropractor is medicine. They’re more than just the bag of tricks that they have,” Kaptchuk said.
Here’s more:
Knowingly taking placebo pills eases pain, study finds
Date:
October 14, 2016
Source:
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Summary:
A new study is the first to demonstrate beneficial placebo effect for lower back pain sufferers who knew they were taking 'fake pills.' Patients who knowingly took placebos reported 30 percent less pain and 29 percent reduction in disability compared to control group. 'Open-labeling' addresses longtime ethical dilemma, allowing patients to choose placebo treatments with informed consent.
www.sciencedaily.com/...
Because the electoral college was so close when you go state by state, there are many factors which made the difference between a win and a lose for Trump. But the power of persuasion mastered by the con man Trump no doubt made his most vocal supporters ignore his obvious lies and exaggerations.
We know how gullible many people are. However, this goes beyond social psychology into actual medicine.
Sunday, Dec 25, 2016 · 11:52:08 PM +00:00 · HalBrown
I forgot I wrote this dairy back in May:
This multilevel marketing plan which Trump traveled the country to promote is finally getting news coverage, complete with clips of his sales pitch assuring that people could beat the recession if they signed on to his con-job scheme.
“The fact is, most of us have not been conditioned, have not been mentored, have not been coached, have not been inspired, have not been motivated to go out and generate wealth,” (Trump) says with the rat-a-tat-tat delivery of a televangelist. “Yes or no?” he asks, scanning the crowd intently. “We’ve been motivated, inspired, encouraged, taught—to do what? To work hard. To get a steady job. And where has that gotten us?” New York Magazine
This is from a recent Daily Beast article “Trump Vitamins Were Fortified With B.S.”:
Call it “Vitamin T.” For several years in the late 2000s and early 2010s, Donald Trump encouraged people to take part in a pseudo-scientific vitamin scheme—all without expressing any concern about how it might potentially endanger people’s health.
Through a multi-level marketing project called The Trump Network, the business mogul encouraged people to take an expensive urine test, which would then be used to personally “tailor” a pricey monthly concoction of vitamins—something a Harvard doctor told The Daily Beast was a straight-up “scam.”
While not exactly selling poison, leading people to believe that they can make a fortune is a kind of poisoning of the mind.
Among other claims, The Trump Network asserted that it could use a urine test to recommend customized nutritional supplements, its signature products. It also offered products that purportedly tested for allergies and bone health. But scientists said such claims were never backed up by modern medicine.
“They make an outrageous statement, which is that this testing and supplement regimen, this process, are a necessity for anyone who wants to stay healthy,” said Dr. Pieter Cohen, a general internist at Cambridge Health Alliance and an expert on dietary supplement safety who reviewed some of The Trump Network’s marketing materials at the request of STAT. “That’s quite insane.” From an excellent scientifically based analysis, including a video, describing what the Trump Network was all about.
How much will it take to convince Trump supporters who have been endowed with at least an average level of critical thinking intelligence, otherwise known as a working bullshit detector, to see that like his vitamin boondoggle his promise to make America great again doesn’t come close to passing the smell test?
Two weeks before that I wrote “Donald Trump’s Pandemonium Shadow Show” using these illustrations: